


I Would Give You the Sun (but it's too damn hot already)

by Run



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Friendship/Love, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-14 09:07:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11204838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Run/pseuds/Run
Summary: Barry has a bad day. Lup has words has words for him.





	I Would Give You the Sun (but it's too damn hot already)

This was, bar none, the worst world they had been to yet. And they had seen some doozies. 

The Starblaster had touched down in a Mushroom Kingdom, a planet made entirely out of garbage slime, and one where the common formal greeting was a hardy slap across the face. More than once Lup had considered high jacking the ship and chilling out in space while the year wrapped up.

But this one- this one just sucked. 

An arid, war-torn wasteland ruled by two rival hive minds, neither one any more willing to relinquish power than the other. Anyone left unabsorbed by the collective was left to fight for resources or die from a lack of them. Every direction looked like shit and they had a full eleven months to go. 

Davenport had speculated that there wasn’t much worth saving in this dust bowl, but the Light hadn’t fallen far from camp and there certainly weren’t going to intentionally let the world burn.  
Most of the crew was working towards stabilizing the ramshackle community so it was down to Lup, Magnus and Barry to retrieve the Light. 

They made it exactly three miles from the Starblaster before they were attacked. 

A ragtag group of scavengers mistook them for a few helpless travelers and ambushed them. They overpowered Barry, briefly, but they undoubtedly hadn’t banked on Magnus’ strength and Lup’s pyrotechnics. The fight was quick, their deaths were quicker. 

“Everyone’s trying to survive,” Barry had said, still eyeing the bodies in the dust. 

“Yeah, “Lup said slinging a few of their weapons onto her back. “These guys weren’t good at it.” 

Magnus insisted on leading the charge from then on with Lup covering them from behind. Barry was between them, silent the whole way there and back. When they arrived at the Starblaster, he retired to his quarters immediately. 

“What crawled up his jeans and died?” Taako asked as the chrome door shut tight. 

Lup had shrugged. They had all been through so many near death and actual death experiences, and while they tried to keep their body count low they had a right to defend themselves, regeneration or no. Near as she could figure, this place was just getting to him. 

It wasn’t until later that night as she walked back from the mess hall to her quarters and heard the quiet sounds of crying, that she suspected Barry was more than simply a little out of sorts. 

She knocked on the door, quietly at first but when she heard no reply save for a few muffled sobs, she hit harder. 

It swung open with a red eyed Barry on the other side. His mouth was open, his glasses askew. “Lup? Hi,” he folded his arms, clearing his throat. “H-how are- did you- sorry, did you need something?” 

Lup looked him over once. No obvious signs of injury or physical trauma, he certainly wasn’t fighting anyone in there. “No, nothing needed,” she said. “It’s just- you were crying and I wanted to know why.” 

Barry made a noise that wasn’t quite a laugh and shrugged quickly. “I’m fine,” he said. “Just- y’know- a long day, that’s all. Hot out there, people died.” 

Lup clicked her tongue. “Right,” she said dubiously. She leaned on his doorframe, pointedly avoiding direct eye contact for fear of scaring him off entirely. “The thing is you’re lying.” She put up her hands. “And that’s fine, like, it’s okay. But you know you don’t have to.” 

Barry shifted his feet uncomfortably before inclining his head back into the room. “Do you- come in, Lup.” 

She followed his lead. Lup had never been in Barry’s bedroom before but not an inch of it surprised her. The floors were lined with stacks of books, the bed was made and tidy and the wooden dresser in the corner, she suspected, was packed to bursting with identical pairs of crisp blue jeans. His desk was piled with papers and what looked to be a few stray test tubes. It was all perfectly on brand.

All except for Barry himself, who Lup had seen nervous a thousand times before but never like this. His still puffy eyes darted around the room, as if he were scrutinizing every last detail. His hands clenched at his sides and when he finally sat down on his bed, he looked like he was on the verge of hyperventilation. 

“Barry,” Lup said softly, sitting down on his desk chair, body angled towards him. “I get it. This world, it sucks so much. And today was awful. But we’re gonna make it out of here; it’s really only a matter of time, right?” She tried a smile but even she wasn’t impressed by the effort. 

Barry ran a hand through his hair, pressing his lips together. Lup shifted in her seat. “That’s…not the problem, is it?” She asked. 

A silence stretched between them unlike any Lup had felt before; a tight, anxious silence. It broke with Barry, hands on his knees, weeping again. Without even thinking, Lup was at his side, arm around his shoulder. “Barry?” 

“It’s gone, Lup.” He croaked. “Our world. Our home. Every place we ever lived, every-everyone we ever loved…” he shuddered under her arm. “I kept pushing it down, focu-focusing on the mission but it’s gone. That thing- the hunger- destroyed it and we’re- we’re ne- we’re never-“Barry took in a shaking breath that couldn’t even make it to his lungs before tumbling out of his mouth in another sob. 

Lup held him. She tightened her arm around his shoulder, put her free hand on his and squeezed. She leaned her forehead against his trembling shoulder and waited silently for a calm moment. 

After a long, draining cry, it arrived. Barry could breathe without shaking, and used that steadiness to dry his glasses. “You don’t have to do this,” he said quietly. “Thank you Lup, so much, but you don’t need to stay and comfort me. I’m sure you’re dealing with all this in your own way.” 

“No it’s- it’s fine,” Lup assured him. “I think I’m actually pretty lucky.” 

Barry turned his head, not quite looking at her but she saw his eyebrows were raised. Lup elaborated. “Taako is the only family I’ve ever had. And we never stayed anywhere long enough to make friends. When we did,” she chuckled. “Well, ‘fair-weather’ is probably an apt description. Point is, I meant it when I said I was looking forward to getting off of that ‘stink planet’ but I can’t imagine-“ she bit her lip, squeezing his shoulder again. “I can’t imagine what it must be like for you, for the others. I’m so sorry Barry.” 

He nodded, opening his mouth to speak but when nothing came out, he closed it again. In the face of another silence, Lup pressed on. 

“If it helps, I’m not so sure home was destroyed.” She felt Barry stiffen under her. “I mean, the Hunger consumes world’s right? It absorbs them. But as far as we can tell, it doesn’t obliterate them. It just, y’know, tacks them onto the greater whole. We can see them swirling around in there.” 

Even if it wasn’t imprinted on Lup’s eyes, she had no trouble imagining the darkness. Lucretia had drawn it so many times, filled notebook after notebook with images of the Hunger and in every single one of them, the same enormous, churning galaxies. A thousand, thousand worlds. 

“So if we find a way to beat it,” Lup continued. “If we stop it and manage to break it open somehow, maybe the worlds will go back to where they were. Maybe everything will just fix itself, like it was before.” She smiled to herself. “Best case scenario really, but I’m willing to believe those exist.”

Barry raised his head, turning to her, properly meeting her gaze for the first time. Something passed over Barry's face that Lup didn’t understand. A look, a feeling, something in his eyes she had never seen before. He didn’t give her a moment to question it before he was on his feet, offering her a hand. “Best case scenario.” 

Lup took the gratuitous assistance and hoped to her feet. “What can I say, I’m an optimist.” A yawn overtook her, and she stretched her arms above her head. How long had they been sitting there? “An absolutely exhausted optimist, with another fun filled day in Hell planned for tomorrow.” 

“Oh, of course!” Barry walked over to the door, opening it for her hastily. “You should sleep it’s ridiculously late.” 

Lup walked past him, smiling. As she entered the hallway, she turned sharply on her heel. “Let me know if the demons come a’knockin’ again. I’ll show ‘em what’s what.” 

Barry laughed, smiling the first real smile she had seen all night. “Thank you, Lup. For everything. This- this meant a lot to me.” 

“No worries, Carebear.” Lup said. 

Barry raised an eyebrow immediately. “Is that my nickname now? Is that what we’re going with?”

“Your name is Barry and you care about things, it’s a work in progress. Good night!” With that, Lup walked back to her room and passed out for the night. 

But had she stayed, been a fly on the wall in Barry’s room, she would have seen him shake his head, still smiling. She would have seen him close the door and lean back against it, eyes on the ceiling. She would have heard him whisper to himself in his empty room. She would have heard him say ‘oh no’ as his eyes closed and despite feeling drained of all possible emotions, laugh at the warmth spreading through his chest.


End file.
